The invention relates to a tag attachment accessory to a machine for wrapping a ribbon around the gathered neck of a bag and twisting the ribbon for closing and sealing the neck of the flexible bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,904 entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TYING PACKAGES AND WRAPPING MATERIALS;xe2x80x9d U.S. Pat. No. 3,059,670 entitled xe2x80x9cWIRE TWISTING TOOL;xe2x80x9d U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,829 entitled xe2x80x9cAPPARATUS FOR TYING PACKAGES AND WRAPPING MATERIALS;xe2x80x9d U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,258 entitled xe2x80x9cWIRE TYING DEVICE;xe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,134 entitled xe2x80x9cRIBBON SENSING DEVICE FOR BAG TYERxe2x80x9d disclose apparatus used for closing a plastic bag by attaching and twisting a wire-like ribbon about the neck of the bag.
Bag tying devices of the type disclosed in the aforementioned patents are commercially available from Burford Corporation of Maysville, Okla. The tying devices are generally constructed to receive packages such as loaves of bread at speeds of for example one hundred (100) packages per minute.
The bag neck tying device disclosed herein incorporates a bag neck gathering mechanism comprising motor driven gathering belts for moving a bag neck along a path in a plane into engagement with a bag stop controlled by an electric brake positioned adjacent a ribbon holder-shear assembly which holds the free end of a ribbon of tie material. A motor driven needle wraps the strand of the tie material around the gathered neck of the bag, and a motor driven twister hook assembly engages the free end and the running end of the ribbon adjacent the gathered neck for twisting the ribbon.
Independently controlled bi-directional, brush type servomotors are mounted in the separate subassemblies of the tying device. Each of the servomotors is controlled by a solid state DC motor controller in a closed loop feedback system under the control of a multichannel microcontroller which precisely starts, controls and stops each of the servomotors in a pre-assigned sequence for each cycle of the tying apparatus.
The tag attachment device is a retrofit option to the standard servo-tyer. The tag attachment device can be mounted on the tyer by removing the cover with the two screws, using a drill template to add some additional holes for the air cylinder, removing the gathering belt and adding a pivot point. The gathering belt is replaced and an air cylinder is installed. The tag attachment device assembly itself bolts onto the existing servo-tyer bracket. The only electrical interface between the tag attachment device system and the servo-tyer is one unused contact in the switch that triggers the servo-tyer. A spool holder for a supply of tags and the tag attachment device are then mounted on the frame.